I hung out yarn snippets last year, but had no takers! Just this morning, though, I did see a bird taking some llama fleece bits off of my deck. I have a box out there that the fleeces were in, and it has some little pieces in it. A chickadee flew in, grabbed a bit, and flew off!! Funny, since they didn't bother the fleeces when I had them hanging out. Maybe it was a little before nest building time!

That's an awesome idea! I can't wait to see if the birds like the idea too

Originally Posted by KellyK

Something to do with that leftover yarn....

Al and I went to Wild Birds Unlimited on Saturday, and bought 2 wren/chickadee/house finch houses (hole is too small for sparrows), and a Robin's nesting platform. Im all excited because while we have always fed our backyard birds, we've never hung houses...dont know why.

We ALSO bought a thing to hang containing WOOL for nesting material! We asked the bird lady if ANY wool will do....she was ALL excited and talked about how if I put out snippets of yarn, we might just see confetti-colored nests all over the neighborhood! What a COOL thing to do with those little smidgey balls of yarn left over from felting projects!

Al bought a bag of oranges today, so I cut up all those little 1" balls of leftover yarn into 3-4" pieces, stuffed them in the meshy orange bag, pulled out a few strands to give the birds the idea, and hung it outside between the houses.

OMGOODNESS My dryer wouldn't dry clothes yesterday, I thought that perhaps the dryer was going; then I was putting the trashcan back in place after garbage pickup & noticed that the dryer's flippy outlet door thingy had fallen off outside the house & there was a partial bird's nest in there I mean these little birdies had been working very quickly bc it has just fallen off!!! It was almost full of pinestraw & odds & ends from the woods!! No birds of any kind, it was obvious that nesting had not begun (of course, they were still building it!!) I felt HORRIBLE having to deconstruct it...but, I had to do it :( God's creatures are very, very resourceful :D

I am a bird fanatic. I am fascinated watching them. Inevitably, each spring or early summer, I will end up with fledglings in my yard. Because we have a cat (as well as many of my neighbors), I usually end up rescuing them.

Last year, I had dh climb up and put a small, somewhat deep, box in the crook of some branches to place a baby robin in. The neighbors across the street had pruned a plum tree, knocking down it's nest. I didn't know if the mother would come over and find it in my yard or not, but she did! I watched her bring it food several times a day (right outside my bedroom window). Two summers ago, I raised a baby Common Grackle to adulthood. Most people consider Grackles to be a pest bird, but they have the most delightful personalities! Our entire family got so much fun and laughter out of that summer with Dillybird. I always name the baby birds I raise.

I keep a birdbook handy, and write down the date when I spot a new species in my yard. Last year, my ds built a couple of birdhouses for me, and hung them. My dh is such a neatnik. He insists on picking up the dog hair after brushing our Chow. I keep telling him what great nesting material it would make for the little birds. :rollseyes:

Every year we used to get Phoebes nesting above our front door. We did a lot of work one winter and replaced the front door in such a way there there was no longer a ledge there.

I came home from work one spring day after the workmen had spent the day and found the Phoebes in the living room, trying to fly out the picture window. Apparently the door had been open all day and they got in. I didn't know how to get the screens off the new windows, so I was running around the house, phone in hand, trying to find how to get them off. Finally I did and the birds got out. Whew. I thought one of them was going to break its head. They found a new spot, though, on the outside light. Very faithful.

Oh, Kelly! That's such an awesome idea! I won't do it around here, because we have outdoor cats and I -try- not to encourage the birds to hang around ... but I can do it at my MIL's house, 5 minutes away!